HOMESTEAD, Fla. - In most forms of auto racing, the show must go on. And that’s exactly what happened Sunday when the IRL IndyCar Series ran its season-opener just hours after rookie Paul Dana died in a two-car crash during the final practice.

The spectators at Homestead-Miami Speedway were asked to observe a moment of silence during the prerace ceremonies and several of the drivers in the Toyota Indy 300, including eventual race winner Dan Wheldon, had decals of Dana’s No. 17 on their sidepods.

“It’s a very, very sad day,” said Wheldon, who shed some tears and cut short his postrace interview when asked about Dana.

“What’s important today is that our thoughts and prayers are with the Dana family and the people at the Rahal Letterman team,” the Englishman added. “Racing is what I love. It’s my job to race and I love my job. It can be pretty vicious at times, but there are a a lot of highs, too.”

Helio Castroneves, who finished second to Wheldon by about 3 feet — the ninth- closest finish in IRL history — said, “Everybody knows the dangers in our sport. I know my mother gets very nervous when she comes to watch me race.”

Fourth-place finisher Dario Franchitti said it was hard not to think about Dana during the race.

“I’m still in shock about the whole thing,” Franchitti said. “I didn’t know Paul very well, but I’ve been through this before. I just feel for his family. It’s such a tragedy.”

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Dana is the third IRL driver to be killed since the league began competition in 1996. Scott Brayton was killed in a crash during practice for the 1996 Indianapolis 500 and Tony Renna died in a crash at Indianapolis during an October 2004 test session.

Great finish
Some great side-by-side racing was almost an afterthought Sunday afternoon because of the tragedy earlier that day.

But the drivers involved were able to put Dana’s death out of their minds long enough to put on a terrific battle in the waning laps of the 200-lap, 300-mile event.

Wheldon, the 2005 series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, and two-time Indy 500 winner Castroneves were able to drive lap after lap within inches of each other with only a couple of minor taps of their tires.

“That’s the thing about the IndyCar Series,” said Wheldon, making his IRL debut with his new team, Chip Ganassi Racing. “I think everybody respects one another an immense amount. You could see that we could run very close.

“I have to give Helio credit. Whenever you run side-by-side with Helio, he gives you just enough room. I hope I do the same for him.”